Body fats are fats needed by the body to perform its essential roles in the body. Some of the fats are release hormones that control metabolism. When there is excess belly fat, there is need to burn belly fat oi improve health and metabolism
TYPES OF FATS IN THE BODY
The body has three types of fat tissue
White body fat
Brown body fat
Beige body fat.
White Body Fat
White fat is more plentiful than brown fat but the work of the white fat is to store energy and produce hormones. Small fat cells produce adiponectin which stimulates the liver and muscles to be sensitive to insulin, making us to be less susceptible to diabetes and heart diseases. When people become fat, it slows down the production of adiponectin setting them up for disease.
White fat or white adipose tissue (WAT) is the standard fat. It stores energy in large droplets that accumulate around the body. The accumulation of fat helps to keep you warm by providing insulation for your organs. Some white fat is necessary for good health but excess of the white fat is detrimental to health.
Brown Body fat tissue
- This type of body fat is located in the upper back area of human infants. This type of fat releases stored energy as heat energy when a baby is cold. It also can make inflammatory substances. Brown fat can be seen in children and adults. It is predominantly seen in little children. Scientist found out that lean people tend to have more brown fat than overweight or obese. When this brown is stimulated, it can burn calories. It is also a known fact that children have more brown fat than adults which is what help them keep warm. Brown fat declines in adults but still help them to keep warm. Once interesting thing about brown fat is that it is fewer in number but can burn lots of white calories. According to webmd.com, when activated, brown fat burns white fat. It went on to state that a 150 pound person might have 20-30 pounds of fat with only 2 or 3 ounces of brown fat. These brown fat if maximally stimulated could burn off 300 to 500 calories a day—enough to lose up to a pound in a week(Doheny,2009)
Brown fat is a type of fat primarily found in babies, although adults do still retain a small amount of it typically in the neck and shoulders. This type of burns fatty acids to keep you warm(Dix,2019). Brown fat or brown fat tissue (BAT) stores energy in a smaller space than white fat. It is packed with mitochondria which is how it gets its color.
When brown fat burns, it creates heat without shivering in a process called Thermogenesis. During this process, the brown fat also burns calories. Brown fat is highly regarded as a possible treatment for obesity.(Marcin, 2020) Research is ongoing to find ways to stimulate these activity of brown fats to help prevent obesity.
Beige Body fat tissue
- Beige Fat is seen in the neck, shoulders, back, chest and abdomen of adults and resembles brown fat tissue. This fat type, which uses carbohydrates and fats to produce heat, increases when children and adults are exposed to cold.
There are two types of body types depending on where it is deposited.
- Subcutaneous Fat
- Visceral Fat
Subcutaneous fat is found directly under the skin and it is measured using skin fills calipers. Subcutaneous fat is deposited in the thighs and buttocks.
Visceral fat or deep fat wrap around the inner organs. This type of fat is trouble for your health. Visceral fat is seen on:
- Large Waist
- Big Belly
These visceral fat deposition drives up the risk for diabetes, heart diseases, stroke and even dementia.
Visceral fat is believed to play a prominent role in insulin resistance which increases the risk of diabetes.
These fats can be seen as
- Belly Fat
- Thigh Fat
- Buttock Fat
Belly Fat
Belly fat Is mostly visceral and subcutaneous fat combined. Women with a waist circumference of 35 inches and men with a waist circumference of 40 inches are at anincreased risk of diabetes. Abdominal fat is a bigger health risk than hip or thigh fat. Visceral fat has a worse effect on insulin resistance, boosting the risk of diabetes, has worse effect on blood lipids, boosting heart and stroke risks.
White fat is made up of large white cells that are stored under the skin, around the organs in the belly, arms, buttocks and thighs. These fats are the body’s way of storing energy for later use. This fat also play a role in the functions of the hormones such as estrogen, leptin(hormones that stimulate hunger),insulin, cortisol(stress hormone) and growth hormone.
Thigh fat, buttock fat:
Men tend to accumulate fat in the belly while women especially pear shaped women accumulate the fat in their thighs and buttocks.
From studies, it was shown that when a person burns fat and lose weight, he or she tend to lose more white fat. When exercise, workouts and diets are added more belly fat is burnt.
Men who are non athletes should have a body fat of 14% to 24% range and women who are non athletes are normally in the range of 21% to 31%. A body fat higher than the above will predispose the person to the following:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Coronary artery disease
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Hormone imbalances
- Pregnancy complications
- Kidney diseases
- Liver diseases
- Cancer
Fats can be stored as the following
Essential fat is fat essential for your life and healthy body. This fat is found in the brain, bone marrow, nerves and membranes that protect organs. Essential fats plays a major role in hormone regulation, including hormones that control fertility, vitamin absorption and temperature regulation. According to the American Council on exercise, women need about 10 to 13 percent of their body composition to come from essential fat while men require at leats 2 to 5 percent.
Subcutaneous fat refers to the fat stored under the skin. It is a combination of brown, beige and white fat cells. The majority of our fat is subcutaneous. It is the fat that you can squeeze or pinch on your arm and belly, thighs and buttocks. Too much subcutaneous fat can lead to imbalanced hormone levels and sensitivity.
Visceral fat also known as belly fat is the white fat that is stored in your abdomen and around your major organs such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines and heart. High visceral fat levels can increase your risk for diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, artery disease and some cancers.
Having a healthy body fat percentage provides the various benefits:
- Temperature regulation
- Balanced hormone levels
- Better reproductive health
- Adequate vitamin storage
- Good neurological function
- Healthy metabolism
- Balanced blood sugar
Having too much white fat particularly visceral fat can be harmful to your health. Visceral fat can increase your risk for the following health conditions such as:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Coronary artery disease
- Atherosclerosis
- Pregnancy complications
- Type 2 diabetes
- Hormone imbalances
- Some cancers
In most people, about 90% of body fat is subcutaneous. The remaining 10% fat is is called visceral or intra abdominal. It is found in the spaces surrounding the liver, intestines and other organs. It is also stored in the omentum, an apron like flap of tissue that lies under the belly muscles and blankets the intestines. The omentum gets harder and thicker as it fills with fat. Although visceral fat makes up only a small proportion of body fat, it is very key player in a variety of health problems (health.harvard.edu)
Omentum is a large adipose tissue layer nestling on the surface of the intra-peritoneal organs. Omentum is one of the body’s largest organs. The organ is effectively a large apron like expanse of fatty tissue that encases the liver, intestine and stomach(cosmosmagazine.com) Besides fat storage, omentum has key biological functions in immune regulations and tissue regeneration. Omentum biological properties include neovascularization, haemostasis, tissue healing and regeneration(Nicola).
As women go through mddle age, their proportion of fat to body weight tend to increase more than in men and fat storage begins to favor the upper body over the hips and thighs. Even when weight is not added, the visceral fat accumulates on the abdomen.
Visceral fats are biological active. They secretes hormones and other molecules that have far reaching effects on other tissues. Subcutaneous fats produce a higher proportion of beneficial molecules. Visceral fats porduce more higher proportion of molecules with potentially detrimental health effects.
Visceral fats makes more of the protein called cytokines which trigger low level inflammation. This low level inflammation is a risk factor for heart disease and other chronic diseases. It also produces a precursor to angiotensin, a protein that causes blood vessels to constrict and makes blood pressure to rise. It is important to burn belly fat fast.
Visceral fat is implicated in cardiovascular diseases. A study of European women aged 45 to 79 concluded that those with large waist circumference in relation to hip circumference had more than twice the risk of developing heart disease. Even in non smoking women, every 2 inches of additional waist circumference raised the risk for cardiovascular disease by 10%. Higher visceral fat volume has a detrimental effect on several heart diseases risk factors. It is associated with higher blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and triglycerides levels and lower levels of HDL(good) cholesterol. All these changes creates a risk for cardiovascular disease.
In the light of the above, it is imperative that men and women with excess belly fat should burn the belly fat to stay health.